Malice

3.00/5.00

Malice by John Gwynne is a good book. “Good” is the best way to describe this book, for many conflicting feelings clashed within me to arrive at this compromise. Malice shines in establishing good characters, with clear motivations and traits. Malice tells a very good story, finishing with an ambitious and shockingly awesome ending. Malice employs its characters to great effect to produce a very enjoyable story. We see clear inspirations from ASOIAF and traditional epic fantasy roots and a fresh take on the time tested tropes of prophecy, hero's journey, chosen ones, and good vs. evil themes.

However, John Gwynne's “Banished Lands” fails to land within the upper echelon of fantasy worlds. Founded on uninspired retro-Christian lore, with limited thematic complexity and disappointing cultural world building, Malice fails to intrigue. The focus of the story quickly moves away from the world and zeroes in on the plot and characters, spasming to ride the coattails of ASOIAF. John Gwynne's dialogue is clearly the weakest link of this book. Most characters say exactly what one would expect them to say, in the most basic and plain way possible. While significant events take place in this book in terms of plot and characters, it feels like a recital of a screenplay where no prosaic beauty exists. During slower parts of the book, this lackluster prose almost caused me a DNF.

In summary, its a good book. A dollar-store version of “A Game of Thrones”.